The State Duma adopted amendments on young specialists and workers that will allow them to apply for support from regions and employers

The State Duma on Tuesday dealt with youth issues. At the plenary session, deputies adopted amendments on young specialists and workers, which will allow them to apply for support from regions and employers. And in the afternoon, the Duma committees on youth policy and education held a joint meeting where they discussed the prospects for the development of the mentoring mechanism and its inexhaustible potential, which, however, has not yet been fully realized due to the delay in developing the corresponding concept.

On April 9, the State Duma adopted in the second and third readings amendments to the bill “On Youth Policy,” introduced in June last year by a group of United Russia (UR) deputies and senators and adopted in the first reading on March 13. The bill clarifies the concept of “young specialist” and enshrines the concept of “young worker” in legislation. These categories of citizens will be able to apply for support measures established by law. Let us note that most preferences for working youth are established by the regions.

According to the document, all working youth (up to 35 years of age inclusive) will be divided into two categories: “young specialists” (those who work in their specialty) and “young workers” (those who are employed for the first time in a job outside their specialty). “It will be possible to provide support to young people who work beyond their qualifications or without them,” explained the co-author of the bill, Chairman of the Duma Committee on Youth Policy Artem Metelev (ER) to the deputies. “For the first three years of their career path, they will also be able to apply for state support or employer, and specific support measures will be established by the government and regions.” The project was supported by 408 deputies, there were no opponents or abstentions.

In the afternoon, at a joint meeting of the committees on youth policy and education, deputies discussed another important mechanism for supporting youth – mentoring. The event participants unanimously assessed the potential of this social institution as limitless, especially considering the possibility of its application in various industries.

“For young people, having a mentor is extremely important: not to make mistakes, achieve victories, survive difficulties,” Artem Metelev listed the benefits of mentoring. In Soviet times, according to him, this institute was very developed (books of mentors at enterprises, public educators for children in difficult life situations), and in recent years it was decided to revive the topic at the highest level.

Deputy Speaker of the Duma Boris Chernyshov (LDPR) is confident that the topic of mentoring should be developed in the context of two national projects – children and youth and personnel. Without a “focus on a mentor,” no “personnel issues” can be resolved; this concerns politics and public administration, the liberal democrat is sure: “Vladimir Zhirinovsky indicated in 2020 that it is necessary to introduce in Russia the position of a mentor for the political elite: it would be right to gather leaders public opinion, representatives of political movements and the country’s leadership so that they can calmly give advice to those involved in the field of governance.”

In the context of education, the specialized education committee is considering a mentoring system within the framework of “two lines,” said its chairman Olga Kazakova (ER): “teacher-student” and “teacher-teacher.” Mentors always appear in “hero stories,” the United Russia member recalled. The same theme was observed in the case of the children who saved people during the terrorist attack in Crocus – their class teacher herself heroically saved two drowning children in her youth, deputies found out. “That is, the guys were absolutely ready (for the feat.— “Kommersant”) both from a humanitarian, human and professional point of view,” Ms. Kazakova emphasized, adding that their parents also spoke about the important role of the class teacher in the development of children.

It is important to continue debureaucratization so that teachers have time for educational work, as well as to attract veterans of the Great Patriotic War, labor and military education to work with children in different formats, Olga Kazakova is sure. And in the “teacher-to-teacher” format, effective innovations are possible, the deputy said: “We are confident that people who are engaged in mentoring activities should receive financial incentives for this: this system can be created following the same example as how classroom management works.” .

Despite the large-scale, diverse experience accumulated by specialized structures and organizations (the First Movement, the Knowledge Society, the Russian Institute of Education, etc. presented their achievements to deputies), from an institutional point of view, both legislators and industry specialists still have to act within the framework of their own vision . After all, the development of a concept for the development of mentoring until 2030, designed to legislate, including the definition of the method itself, is delayed, deputies found out.

“We are a little behind the deadline,” admitted Viktor Neumyvakin, a representative of the Ministry of Education responsible for developing the concept. Today, the ministry has “formed a structure” and is collecting proposals from interested parties, he explained in response to Artem Metelev’s request to familiarize the event participants with the draft concept. “We are now collecting proposals, and so far there is nothing to get acquainted with… After May 3, when we have a document as a first approximation, we will show it,” the official promised.

The importance of the emergence of the concept, as noted by the meeting participants, cannot be overestimated, since without it, mentoring will remain an “informal story”, not fixed in a specific framework. “It’s a pity that this is not on time, but it seems to me that everyone is interested in seeing the concept appear,” Mr. Metelev summed up the discussion.

Grigory Leiba, Ksenia Veretennikova